this morning, family matters. >> post-debate tension still running high. overnight, one of mitt romney's sons, talking about wanting to hit the president after that rough exchange between the candidates, who will be in the same room again tonight. lone wolf. another terror plot uncovered by the fbi. the target, the wall street area near ground zero. and the suspect even wanted to kill the president. wild night in the skies. severe weather for states from illinois all the way to the gulf coast. and in california, a meteor shower seen by millions. and a long wait. two brothers hang on to a multimillion-dollar scratcher for six years. talk about patience.

good morning. i'm john muller, in for rob nelson. >> i'm paula faris. we begin with the presidential race. as we mentioned, both candidates are speaking at a bipartisan political dinner here in new york. >> but tuesday night's debate is still very much on a lot of people's minds. one of them, apparently, is mitt romney's oldest son, tagg. he told a north carolina radio station, quote, he wanted to take a swing at president obama. 19 days to go. and as abc's tahman bradley reports, the candidates are crafting their messages for women voters. >> reporter: with less than three weeks left until election day, the presidential contenders have intensified their efforts to court undecided women voters. >> my mom was a single mom. >> a single mom who doesn't know whether they'll be able to put food on the table at the end of the week. >> reporter: polls show president obama maintains his advantage among women voters. but challenger mitt romney has narrowed the gap. mr. obama touted the equal pay

measure he signed into law. and attacked his republican rival for not supporting it. >> when young women graduate, they should get equal pay for equal work. that should be a simple question and answer. when governor romney was asked about it, his campaign said, we'll get back to you. >> reporter: for his part, romney says women have suffered under president obama. and he'll do more to help them. >> why is it that there are 3.6 million more women in poverty today than when the president took office. this president has failed america's women. >> reporter: under fire from democrats to end funding for planned parenthood, romney has taken to the air waves to discuss husband position on portion and contraception. >> he thinks abortion should be an option in rape or to save a woman's life. >> reporter: activists say romney is trying to mislead

women about his plan. he is pushing for legislation to deny coverage for procedures employers find objectionable. democrats think he gave him an opportunity on tuesday night's debate about his staff bringing him binders of women. that was the most-searched topic on google. >> thanks for that report, tahman. a faceoff in florida is just four days away. not that we're counting. abc news will have complete live coverage on monday night. another major story. a foiled plan to blow up the federal reserve building in new york. a young man from bangladesh is in custody this morning. >> officials say the suspect went on facebook in search of like-minded terrorists. instead, found an undercover inform mant. here's abc's dan harris. >> reporter: prosecutors say the suspect is 21-year-old

named quazi mohammad rezwanul ahsan nafis moved to america from bangladesh in january of this year, specifically to carry out a terror attack. they say when he got here, nafis started trying to recruit accomplices, claiming he had al qaeda connections, and justifying the killing of innocents by quoting "our beloved sheikh osama bin laden." what nafis did not know was that one of the people he contacted was an undercover fbi agent, who supplied him with 20 50-pound bags of what nafis believed to be explosives but were, in fact, fake. over the course of months, nafis allegedly bought a detonator, conducted surveillance in lower manhattan and even, at one point, told the undercover agent he wanted to kill the president. this morning, nafis allegedly packed the explosives in a van, connected a detonator, parked it outside the federal reserve bank, where hundreds of people work. a symbol of capitalism in the middle of lower manhattan's crowded financial district. and then, walked over to the nearby millennium hotel, where he taped a video statement, explaining his actions, saying, quote, we will not stop until we attain victory or martyrdom.

when he tried to detonate the bomb via his cell phone, he was arrested. if that had been a real bomb, it could have done massive damage, perhaps killing or injuring many, many people. investigators say nobody in the public was in danger during the course of have investigation. they argue that if they don't intervene early with people like nafis, they can get their hands on real weapons and do real damage. dan harris, abc news, in lower manhattan. >> thanks to dan harris for that report. and nafis is being held without bail in federal custody this morning after a brief court appearance yesterday. violent crimes unexpectedly jumped 18% last year, the first rise in nearly 20 years. the justice department said the surge was led by an upward swing in simple assaults. serious crimes like rape and robbery stayed about the same. police in denver are on the hunt for a killer after five people were found dead in a burned-out bar.

the women and a man were killed before the bar was set on fire early wednesday morning. the bar owner was among the victims. police are hoping it was an isolated incident. but they're not too sure. june 10th is the tentative trial date for george zimmerman. the neighborhood watch volunteer who is charged in the shooting death of trayvon martin. zimmermann's defense team is going to argue that the shooting was justified under florida's stand your ground law. they are waking up to a massive mess after a night of wild weather. from springfield, illinois, to memphis and mississippi. powerful winds, ripping through a mobile home park in tennessee. there were numerous reports of tornadoes. an eye-catching sight last night over the northern california skies. a bright fireball streaking across the sky, along with a loud boom. scientists say it was part of a

meteor shower, spawned by hailey's comet. the meteor shower expected to put on a dazzling show. with flakes of comet dust. >> science 101. time, now, for the weather from across the nation. chilly, wet and windy from the northern plains into the upper midwest. stormy in the south, with damaging winds from birmingham, into the carolinas and pittsburgh. heavy rain around nashville and lexington. late-day showers from d.c. all the way to philly. >> mostly 60s in the northwest and northeast. 60s in the northern rockies and pacific northwest. and when we come back on this thursday morning, the new highest-paid actor on tv, $24 million a year. not too shabby. >> not too shabby. and american airlines is bankrupt and losing money. why is it going on a hiring spree? and how three guys got this plane to pop a wheelly. >> cool.

welcome back, everyone. recent college grads are leaving school with a lot more than just diplomas. student debt keeps spiraling. the latest numbers show two-thirds of the class of 2011 graduated with loans averaging $26,600. that's 5% higher than it was the year before. the upside is the unemployment rate for college grads is about half that of people with only a high school diploma. >> how about that? strong numbers show a bounceback for the housing market. the number of new homes being built jumped 15% between august and september.

that's the highest rate in four years. and a sign of more recovery ahead, applications for building permits rising 12%, also hitting a four-year high. american airlines reporting a mixed bag of news. almost after a year after filing for bankruptcy. a lot of it came from severance payments and one-time expenses. american will be hiring flight attendants for the first time in 11 years, looking to replace 1,500 who took a buyout. if you wonder how google can answer your questions with lightning speed, along with 3 billion searches a day, here's a glimpse behind the curtain. google is offering an unprecedented online peek at its top-secret data centers, where massive mazes of pipes and cables keep armies of computer servers answering the world's questions. very neat and orderly. >> it is kind of like oz, right? coming up, a new reason to rethink your annual checkup. why going every year might not

be just what the doctor ordered. and lance armstrong's already lost titles and medals. and now, he could be losing $30 million. in america today we're running out of a vital resource we need to compete on the global stage. what we need are people prepared for the careers of our new economy. by 2025 we could have 20 million jobs without enough college graduates to fill them. that's why at devry university, we're teaming up with companies like cisco to help make sure everyone's ready with the know how we need for a new tomorrow. [ male announcer ] make sure america's ready. make sure you're ready. at devry.edu/knowhow. ♪ with a vial and syringe. me, explaining what i was doing at breakfast. and me discovering novolog mix 70/30 flexpen. flexpen is pre-filled with your pre-mix insulin. dial the exact dose. inject by pushing a button.

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for over 30 years. and it's now the most doctor recommended, the most preferred and among the most studied. so when it comes to getting the most out of your multivitamin, the choice is clear. centrum. always your most complete. firefighters in california say they are getting a handle on this fire burning in the hills above santa barbara. 40 homes have been evacuated. but residents have been allowed to return. the same area was hit by a devastating fire in 1990, which destroyed hundreds of homes. dry roads there in california today. but it will be slick from the east coast to florida, upstate new york. highways there will be wet at times. also around the great lakes, upper midwest, and the dakotas. >> if you are flying, airport delays possible in minneapolis, chicago, detroit, atlanta and charlotte. all right. back to the news. lance armstrong is a man without

several of his long-time sponsors this morning. among the companies that have now ended their relationship with armstrong, nike, and anheuser-busch. >> the companies have pulled support in the wake of a report that placed a armstrong at the center of a doping career. armstrong stepped down as the chairman of live strong, his cancer charity. and the fungal meningitis outbreak is getting worse this morning. the death toll has jumped to 19 and 250 people have been sickened. the fda is looking into two more drugs made by that massachusetts pharmacy linked to the outbreak. and doctors are being urged to contact patients who got any kind of injection from the company. couple of other medical stories making headlines this morning. there's an encouraging step in the battle against pancreatic cancer. researchers say there's a drug made from a plant that's wiped

out pancreatic tumors in mice. this drug may be soon tested in human beings that have pancreatic cancer. it is a particularly deadly form of disease. a study is casting doubt on the health benefits of an annual physical. comparing people who got a checkup with people who didn't, there's no difference in the risk of death from heart disease or cancer deaths. no difference in the risk of death from any disease. dr. richard besser said there's three things we should do every year. get a flu shot, have our blood pressure checked and cholesterol checked. >> i'm 0 for 3. time, now, for planes behaving badly. planes. we start at the airport in burbank, california, where a private jet found up with its front wheels off the ground. the wheelie happened when three mechanics went to the back of the plane at the same time. they evens out the weight and the wheel went back down. nobody was hurt. >> that's remarkable. >> they were very slight

mechanics. from central germany, a military plane coming in for a rough landing came up a little short of the runway. then, bounced over a road, before finally stopping safely on the runway. things were okay in the end. let's hope the pilot, who is not a fighter pilot, does a little better. >> he wasn't just hot dogging? >> don't think so. >> keeping it interesting. >> if he gets another attempt. week seven of the nfl kicks off tonight with a battle in the nfc west. the seattle seahawks taking on the 49ers in san francisco. we get yesterday's highlights, now, from espn. >> good morning. i'm hakem dermish with your "sportscenter" update. we begin in st. louis for game three of the national league championship series. bottom three. cards, 1-0. carpenter, four for four in his career against matt cain. make it five for five. his first for a postseason home run gives the cardinals a 2-1 lead. then, there was a 3:28 rain delay. pick it up in the ninth now.

jason motte toe to close it out. his first save of his career. and the cardinals take a 2-1 series lead on the giants. minnesota lynx hosting the indiana fever in game two of the wnba finals. shot is blocked. got hit on the wrist. she would get teed up. then, check out lynx coach cheryl reeves. not happy. i don't need this jacket. it's too warm in here anyway. closing seconds of the third. simone augustus, for the three. buries it. puts the lynx up five. fourth quarter, minnesota native, lindsay whalen, from distance. the lynx go on to win 83-71. series tied at 1-1 games. game three is on friday. that's your "sportscenter" update. i'm hakem dermish.

have a great day. michael phelps isn't just the most decorated olympian of all-time anymore. >> the newest honor comes thanks to "men's health" magazine, who names phelps the fittest man ever. >> he credits his daily five-hour workouts for his legendary physique. bruce lee is second on the list. arnold schwarzenegger is third. five hours a day? >> and a little hard partying after this hard workout. >> not sure what he was smoking there, right? maybe that's part of the workout. up next, requested the pulse." they say, good things come to those who wait. meet the most patient lottery winners in the history of mankind. >> it's so true. the guy who had no idea what he was in for when he tried to take this plunge. we'll tell you about it. new pink lemonade 5-hour energy?

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okay. it is time to check "the pulse," stories you're going to be talking about today. and imagine winning a $5 million lottery prize. try to wrap your mind around this. how long would it take you to

claim it? six hours? six days? six years? >> two brothers from upstate new york hit it big in 2006. they waited until they had 11 days to claim the prize. they were worried the windfall would have a negative influence on their lives. and they wanted to plan properly. i think one of the guys was engaged and planning a wedding. he wanted to make sure that the money didn't influence everything that was going down. but we talked about it. you can put it in a bank and get interest on it. >> have they not heard of interest? $5 million. >> don't tell me. >> six years? >> it would be up if you claim it. they would get publicity. >> but still. all of the money they just lost out on. >> i would go for six days. i think i'd think about it for six days and cash it. >> yeah. i'm not going to work with that on the planner. talk about big money. we have the answer to who is the highest-paid actor on tv. ashton kutcher, leading the top of the "forbes" list.

a cool 24 million bucks for starring in "two and a half men." >> hugh laurie tied for number two with ray romano. his "men of a certain age" was canceled. but there's syndication money from "everybody loves raymond." alec baldwin and mark harmon, $15 million apiece. not too shabby. and proof that laughter is the best answer. >> his stunt didn't go off without a hitch. instead of cannonballing, he jumped into a frozen pool. couch. >> heinie first. that's not cool. >> apparently his pain didn't last for too long. when his friends started cracking up, he joined them. >> he falls to the ice and what happened? >> the idea was that it was thin and it would break. it was a bad idea. absolutely. for some of you, your local

news is next. >> we'll see you in a bit. you won't run into the top ten appliance brands just anywhere. only sears carries them all. this is the top ten advantage. this is sears. you're playing tomorrow. [ coughs ] ♪ you can't let a cold keep you up tonight. [ snores ] vicks nyquil. powerful nighttime 6-symptom cold & flu relief. ♪ if you can't take a sick day, here's a cold hard fact. alka-seltzer plus cold & cough may cause marked drowsiness. try dayquil cold and flu for non-drowsy relief of these symptoms. so you can save the day, not worry about falling asleep. [ laughter ]

>> break being news, a search underway for a missing petaluma girl last seen at a park near her home. what police are saying about a man she was seen with. and new images of mysterious streaks in the sky and when we might be seeing it again. plus it's heating i am. we have the forecast. >> hottest day of the week. we saw the regular flag warning. high fire danger. >> and it's 49 andate new york. storms across the deep south. windy from the upper midwest to the dakotas. finally this morning, from pundits to punch lines. >> the heated second presidential debate has been analyzed by the experts. and now, also by the late-night

comics. >> as you know, the presidential campaign headed to hofstra university where the candidates debated before. a town hall of long islanders, ranging from italian guys to. other italian guys. to a jewish guy. and his mom. such diversity in long island. the big question would be, which version of barack obama would respond? the first debates, sleepy time mcgillicutty? or free talk jones? >> what governor romney said just isn't true. >> it's a live. it's alive. >> crave the blood sports. just look at them debate the president's commitment to oil exploration on federal lands. >> how much did you cut licenses

on federal lands? >> governor romney, this is what we did. >> i had a question. how much did you cut them by? >> now, i cannot believe candy crowley let obama wield the fan-bladed lurpa. i must say, she looked great with those new hair extensions. >> four years ago, i told the american people and i told you, i would cut taxes for middle-class families. and i did. i told you i would cut taxes for small business. and i have. and i said i would end the war in iraq. and i did. and we have gone after al qaeda's leadership, like never before. and osama bin laden is dead. >> most surprising, he went with christina. >> the power of editing. >> always enjoy that stuff. that's what's making news in america this morning.